Month: August 2009

Currently the GI is queued in my todo list because many projects and changes are on the render area so I keep it on hold until everything get stable enough (raytrace optimizations,2.5, render api, etc) though with the render API we may end up not needing urgently a GI solution I think that anyway Blender should have a GI solution, being able to plug whatever into Blender render pippeline is not an excuse for not having a high end rendering solution and falling behind sleeping in laurels. Why not build the Render Internal as one of the big renderes out there?

Blender as a whole is now something to take into account, lets make its rendering solution also something to take into account.

Though it will require time… I have hope 🙂

Cheers to all Farsthary

thanks

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Well guys, the time has come, finally volumetrics is on the way thanks to the incredible effort, talent and interest of Matt Ebb, the whole blender community the blender devs, and this servant 😉 I´m very gratefull for that.
Two years ago, when I saw with envy the Ligthwave Hypervoxels I wanted something similar in Blender. Then I start thinkering with Blender node materials to see if something similar could be achieved, then, frustrated, I have jumped to python scripts, and finally realize that the only way where to get dirt into the source code and the rest, is history 🙂

With smoke simulations happen similarily, my original code in volumetrics and smoke simulation where of little reuse value to Matt and Daniel Genrich but at least they serve to shake the blender world to show that those features where very possible, and that devs with the rigth knowledge and skills could implement them much better.
If I only be a catalyst of them I´m more than happy 🙂
One important lessong I have learned: A working proptotype of feature, even if is buggy and spaguetty like implemented worth thousand request in forums, so don´t be afraid of source codes and if you have an idea and some free time, give a try!

Still current volumetrics miss some features like full external shadow support but the first milestone has being set. The first iteration is nearly done but that is not the end of the story 🙂 , just the begining

Now this site will get a new name: Thinker Code , instead of True Volumetrics because as you have noticed I have broaden my scopes and also, I enjoy coding to the point that I feel I´m toying with it rather than working.

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Asset management is among one of the most valuable features in a 3d software since it allows to handle very complex scenes, that are the daily bread for artist and firms. Blender currently does a good job due to some very wise design and in Blender 2.5 things may become better and better.
But Blender has a limitation regarding layer management, it only allows up to 20 layers. A typical layer manager, a very useful and requested feature (I remember myself years ago downloading and opening Blender just to see very disappointed that the number of layers buttons remains the same over versions) allows to handle dynamic layers with more than toggable visibility, that means unlimited named layers, selection freeze , toggable renderability and so on.
It’s true that there’s a Layer Manager Script that helps on many of those issues but did I have mention that it only manages 20 layers? Let’s face it, 20 layers could be ok for small projects, not so complex models or if we like to spread our 200+ pieces realistic modeled watch across 10 scenes in the same file and go crazy navigating for its different logical parts.
Since Blender 2.42 a very powerful feature has been included: Groups, which allows all sort of crazy things. Groups could act essentially like Layers but have more advantages:
dynamic nature (unlimited per scene), named, and the good news is that I have implemented also restriction flags for them: toggle visibility, toggle selectability and toggle
renderability allowing for a very functional Layer Manager… sorry Group Manager 🙂

Fig. 1. – current versions, outliner showing groups

Fig. 2. – patch applied, outliner showing groups with toggle buttons

I have written a patch for Blender 2.4x series and for Blender 2.5, though for the last one some recode is required in order for it to work nicely with the new RNA system. but again, like always, I only show what IS possible in Blender through working prototypes. This feature is relatively easy to implement, and for an established Blender dev should be a matter of hours before being added to the trunk. Moreover, could be very useful for Durian and even a nice addition if another 2.4x release were to be made 🙂

It allows to use the groups as layers. Now in the outliner windows, in the Groups entry, for each group will appear the toggle buttons for object visibility, selectability and renderability. That way you can quickly organize your project like in a layer manager, navigate through it, protect entire groups from selectability and restrict entire group renderability.